Medico protest spreads

EMERGENCY SERVICES at government hospitals, particularly at the AIIMS and the LNJP, were crippled on Saturday as junior and resident doctors observed a 24-hour strike to express solidarity with the medical students protesting against the OBC quota proposal. Till evening, the strike had claimed the lives of two patients who needed immediate attention.

EMERGENCY SERVICES at government hospitals, particularly at the AIIMS and the LNJP, were crippled on Saturday as junior and resident doctors observed a 24-hour strike to express solidarity with the medical students protesting against the OBC quota proposal. Till evening, the strike had claimed the lives of two patients who needed immediate attention.

But the doctors refused to budge from their stand as news came in from across the country of similar protests. In Mumbai, the police lathi-charged medical students on a hungerstrike, further aggravating the situation. In Delhi, Simran Kelkar, a 30-year-old thyroid patient, bled to death while she was being shuffled between LHMC and LNJP. Her father-in-law said: “We took her to LNJP first where the doctors told us to take her to LHMC. At LHMC, they told us to take her back. She died on the way back.”

In the second case, a 35-year-old man, who had met with an accident two days ago and was supposed to be operated upon on Saturday, died at LNJP.

The doctors were angry over the government’s silence on the quota issue — and also the police action on students in Delhi and Mumbai. From Sunday, the medical students have decided to go on a hunger strike at AIIMS. Resident doctors have decided to extend their “token” strike indefinitely.

“Since the government is not responding to us, we’ve decide to go on an indefinite strike. We want apologies from the police in Mumbai and Delhi. We also want to meet the PM,” said Dr Sumer Seth, president, RDA, LHMC.